The Chief Executive Officer, Emy Cargo and Shipping Services Limited, Emeka Okonkwo, aka E-Money is under investigation at the Force Criminal Investigation Department Annex, Alagbon, over alleged N1, 209,200,000 dispute with a vehicle dealing company, Autocorp Limited, in Lagos State.

A police source who is privy to the case but pleaded anonymity told PUNCH Metro that Okonkwo and the aggrieved party had been invited for questioning, adding that another meeting had been scheduled for the case.

In a bid to ascertain the facts behind the over N1.2bn that reportedly caused the dispute between both parties, our correspondent, during a conversation with the sales manager for the vehicle dealing company, Patricia Iduwre, discovered that the company contracted Okonkwo to clear eight vehicles in 2020/2021.

According to Iduwre, the vehicles comprised six TXL Prado and two Lexus jeeps valued at N1, 209,200,000, adding that despite Okonkwo clearing the vehicles, the company had yet to take delivery of them till date.

She said, “When we gave him the vehicles to clear, they were valued at N1.2bn. All along, we thought the vehicles were at his warehouse but recently, he said he had sold the vehicles. He said he sold the vehicles because we owed him, whereas we did not owe him.

“In this business, it is after an agent supplies that you pay and he has not even supplied any of the vehicles. We involved our lawyer and reported the case to the police and it was during dialogue with him (Okonkwo) that we got to know he had sold the vehicles. When the police intervened, the reason he gave for selling the vehicles was that we owed him.

“He also said our chairman asked him to sell the vehicles but when the police engaged our chairman, he said he never gave him (Okonkwo) such a directive. Our chairman also told the police to tell Okonkwo to provide evidence that he said he should sell it.”

Iduwre, while demanding the vehicles, urged the police to investigate the case.

She added, “The police asked if he (Okonkwo) claimed to have sold the vehicles at the instance of the chairman, did he give us the money? He then said he used the money to offset debts.

“When he was asked which debt, he said my chairman asked him to use the vehicles to borrow money from the bank. But my chairman debunked that claim.

“My chairman said he is eligible to borrow money from the bank himself, so why would he ask Okonkwo to borrow money from the bank? What we want are the vehicles we asked him to clear; we don’t want any money.”

The lawyer representing the vehicle dealing company, Raymond Olaiya, in a petition to the FCID, described the monetary dispute involving the company and Okonkwo as that of “stealing, fraudulent conversion and criminal sale.”

The petition read in part, “We write on the instruction of our client, Autocorp Limited, to complain of stealing and fraudulent conversion of the company’s imported vehicle numbering eight, which amounted to about N1,209,200,000.

“The vehicles were among several other imported vehicles contracted out to Emy Cargo to be cleared from the Nigerian Ports at Apapa between 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. The eight Four-Wheel Drive jeeps were, till date, never delivered to our company, ever since Emy Cargo cleared them from the Nigerian Ports.

“We, therefore, implore you to use your good offices to help track the whereabouts of these vehicles, which were specifically ordered for by our company to be delivered to our clients, and we would appreciate your timely intervention in bringing Emeka Okonkwo, the CEO of Emy Cargo, to justice as a deterrent to others.”

Okonkwo, when contacted, said the allegation was not true but confirmed that a business transaction happened between both parties.

He said, “It is a false allegation; it is not true. There is a resolution and a business transaction between both parties. However, I am not in town. It is not a phone talk. I will be available on Friday; I am giving you an appointment so you can come over to hear my side of the story.”When contacted, the spokesperson for the FCID Annex, Alagbon, Aminat Mayegun, confirmed that Okonkwo had been under investigation.

She said, “Yes, we are investigating the matter concerning (Okonkwo). The matter is about the conversion and it is being investigated at the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Force. The case is under investigation; we have extended an invitation to him and he has acknowledged the investigation.

“Based on the petition, he was once invited and he came. And now, we have to call both parties involved for another discussion and a date has been scheduled for it.”

Governor Alex Otti of Abia State and his predecessor, Okezie Ikpeazu, are currently trading words over the alleged allocation of N10 billion by Mr Ikpeazu-led administration to a non-existent airport project in the state.

Mr Ikpeazu served as a two-term governor of the state under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) between 29 May 2015 and 29 May 2023, when he handed over to Mr Otti.

Mr Otti was elected as governor of the state on 22 March 2023 under the Labour Party ticket.

He defeated the PDP candidate, Okey Ahiwe who was Mr Ikpeazu’s preferred candidate.

How it all started

Mr Otti was at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in the US, where he delivered a lecture on 19 April.

The governor spoke on the topic, “State of Governance and Economic Transition: Meeting the challenges.”

During his lecture, Mr Otti accused Mr Ikpeazu of allocating N10 billion to a non-existent airport project in the state.

He claimed he obtained the information from a report of a forensic audit carried out by a firm contracted by his administration.

A text of the governor’s speech in the US was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES by his spokesperson, Kazie Uko.

A video clip which showed the governor making the speech has been circulating on various social media platforms.

“Talking about corruption, I had set up a forensic audit as soon as I took over office in Abia, last year (2023). So that there won’t be any argument, I called in one of the top three audit firms in the world, and not too long ago, they turned in their report, and some of the things in their report are frightening,” Mr Otti said.

“So, some N9.3 billion was paid to seven contractors for contracts that were not executed at all up till today. Another N15.9 billion was paid to 63 contractors with no supporting documents anywhere in the state. Another N12 billion was paid to two contractors for contracts that do not exist. Out of this figure N10 billion was on September 25, 2020, paid to some contractor for the construction of the Abia State Airport.

“We have spent time trying to locate the airport and up till now have not been able to locate it. So, as we continue to look for our airport, we have also involved the security agencies to help us search,” the governor stated.

Although Mr Otti did not mention Mr Ikpeazu’s name or his administration in the comment, the former governor was in power within the period the allocation of the funds allegedly took place.

‘Release the audit report’

In his first response in late April, Mr Ikpeazu, through a statement by his spokesperson Onyebuchi Ememanka, denied the allegation describing it as “senseless”.

The former governor consequently challenged Mr Otti to release the audit report which he relied on and also made public details of other projects which were allegedly not executed.

“We hereby throw a public challenge to Alex Otti, Governor of Abia State to make public any documentary evidence or any kind of evidence at all that shows that the sum of N10 billion was paid for an airport.

“When forensic auditors are appointed and when they complete their task, the reasonable thing to do is to make the forensic audit report public and allow the document to speak for itself,” he said.

We gathered that like Mr Ikpeazu, some civil society organisations, such as the Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy, have written to the Abia governor demanding a copy of the forensic audit report and other details of his allegation.

It is unclear, for now, if the governor has released a copy of the forensic audit report to the organisations.

How I spent N10 billion Airport fund – Ikpeazu

In his second response, Mr Ikpeazu, through his former commissioner for Information, John Kalu, explained that the N10 billion originally budgeted for the airport project was rechanneled into other projects following the approval of the then State Executive Council.

“Shortly after we announced Exco’s approval of the airport project, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu received in audience executives of Abia State Traditional Rulers Council then led by HRM Eze Joseph Nwabekee.

“On the 13th of November 2020, Okezie Ikpeazu informed members of the State Executive Council about the details of his meeting with representatives of the traditional rulers in Abia State, who requested that we suspend the airport project and commit the funds earmarked for it to do more roads in the state, as we are surrounded by airports already but need to urgently improve internal roads that would give a further boost to the socio-economic activities of the state.

“The members of the State Executive Council thereafter voted to approve the suspension and request to use the earmarked funds for road projects in the state,” he narrated.

Mr Kalu added that on 17 November 2020, Mr Ikpeazu took to his official X handle (formerly known as Twitter) to inform residents of Abia State that the airport project had been suspended.

The former commissioner listed some of the road projects where the funds were rechannelled, adding that the projects were captured in the state’s approved 2020 budget.

Not the first time

Since inauguration as governor of Abia State, Mr Otti has been making various allegations against Mr Ikpeazu, which appear as discredit to the former governor and his administration.

In June 2023, for instance, Mr Otti accused Mr Ikpeazu of leaving a “humongous” debt burden for the state.

Premium Times.

Former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, his daughter, Fatimah, and two other suspects, will on Thursday be arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The suspects are facing charges over alleged N2.7 billion contract fraud uncovered in the Aviation Ministry under Sirika.

The embattled former Minister would be arraigned for trial for the first time, before Justice Sylvanus Oriji of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday.

Sirika is billed to appear in court with his three co-defendants, his daughter, Fatima; one Jalal Hamma, and Al-Duraq Investment Ltd, on charges of abusing their positions to launder over N2.7 billion.